BECOMING SUPRA

Chapter 23

                                                                                         RAË

I whispered to a tree, a wish. The tree granted my wish by releasing a flower; through which I was delivered to a beach as soft as faun, sparkling like diamond dust. Moonshine like liquid silver, ricocheting off the white-laced surf. Sea-spray foaming and lathering our feet, salty tongues licking our naked bodies. We are writhing. We are kissing. Kissing each other with an intensity that holds lifetimes of togetherness. We shiver in exalted and euphoric communion.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

I open my eyes, bleary and groggy. I squint to find Yinka standing at the foot of the mattress staring down at me.

She lifts her leg up for another thud. Something stirs beside me. I look down at my legs to find them entwined with somebody else's, a splay of hair spread over his chest, my face cradled in the dip of his neck. I can feel the heat of his body against mine. Æsh and I are together in bed.

My heart starts beating at a snail's pace, as though it's afraid the sound might wake someone up. I lift my head as carefully as I can, but Æsh stirs and wakes up. Immediately we disentangle, immediately we disengage. Æsh sits up for a fraction, then quickly gets out of bed.

Yinka takes a bite of the bolani she is holding and deliberately chews on it. "Don't get out of bed on my account. I certainly don't mind."

Æsh says, scratching his head, "Lunch had me comatose."

"It was the orchid," I said. "It knocked me out clean as well."

"What happened last night?" Yinka asked, raising her eyebrows twice at us.

"We cooked lunch with Phi."

"That was more than fourteen hours ago," she said.

"Then I fell into a deep sleep," said Æsh.

"In her arms I see," said Yinka, winking at us.

Æsh took a quick oblique glance in my direction then turned and left the room.

As he left I felt a loosening in my chest, as though a tight knit in my chainmail had come undone.

"It was the orchid ...." I snapped at Yinka, getting angry with myself.

"Believe what you want, but the flow of a river can't be stopped," she said and nonchalantly walked out of the room.

My mind flitted to the dream. Us naked in lust. The frenzy. The ardor. I shut my eyes. The passion so intense, like nothing I had experienced.

The din of conversations come wafting from the main cavern. I got out of bed, washed up and made my way out.

I was crossing, at the end of the corridor I saw a woman with a gash running from her eye to her jaw. I trailed down the hallway and chanced upon a large chamber - full of women, all maimed and disfigured. Some were burnt, some were blind, some even had a limb or two missing. My heart fluttered with unease, I continued inside, taking in the sights of the battered and mutilated women.

Then my eyes rested on a cot, a woman lay fixedly staring at the ceiling, all her limbs were missing, it was as though her legs and arms had been hacked above the her knees and elbows. Her round eyes, still pinched with trauma, suddenly darted to me. Startled, I stepped back, toppling a water dispenser made of clay. It crashed with a loud burst, water swamping my feet.

The women all turned to face me, even the ones who had been blinded. Trembling, I tracked back, unable to take my eyes off.

"There you are Raë," Phi called out to me. "Breakfast is ready."

I made my way to the main cavern still carrying the horror with me. Yinka sat with her leg propped, surrounded by the faction. I shook the previous images and zeroed into Yinka's wound, her flesh had healed, only a starburst of pink now remained.

Phi was by the samovar, pouring hot cups of tea.

"Pain management is an exercise in mental stamina ... the second you give up, the second pain seeps back in."

"It was almost as though pain was guiding me to overcome it," said Yinka.

"That is the purpose of pain, to guide you to overcome," said Phi.

"I can now heal myself," said Yinka, her eyes touched by her eyes.

"It took a wound to pull the melody out from you. I'm surprised you hadn't tried finding the music on your own," she said, placing a platter of crispy flat-bread with sides of smoked honey and sweetened clotted cream.

 "Eat up. After breakfast, we go to the roof to catch the annular eclipse."